Joanna Rowling was rejected by many publishers and when the first edition of the first Harry Potter novel was published the print run was only 1000. She was advised to disguise her feminine identity - hence the "JK", the K being an invention for the purpose.

Abraham Lincoln failed, a dozen times, to achieve some government office before becoming president. That is a story most motivational speakers love to use.

The problems is that most of these people had some kind of reliable support to encourage them to overcome their problems. The rest of us get no support, or are even ridiculed for our efforts.

There are too many beings who have completely narrow views of how life could be for everyone. I am greatly disappointed because from my earliest memories, I thought only in terms of great potentialities awaiting me, already in place amongst the peoples of the world, when I became an adult. Boy, was I wrong.

__________________
In the vault of the mind lie all the chains of bondage, as well as the keys to freedom. -- Paramahansa Yogananda

Thank you, Wade and DG, you are a big help and maybe others are inspired by your posts too. I know I am.

Quote:

Originally Posted by divine_gypsy

The rest of us get no support, or are even ridiculed for our efforts.

DG,
I have always loved the saying "I am grateful to all the people who said no. It is because of them that I could." I always say that it would be so easy for me to tell my lifestory as a very tragic story, but I choose to think of it and talk about it as a wonderful adventurous journey full of so much help along the way.
It is kind of like washing the elephant (Wade mentioned that story in another post) - what part am I washing? - what do I see? Much support to you!

As a child, Bartoli said, she finished last in sprints and ball-throwing competitions at school.

Recognizing that he needed to make an athlete out of her if she wanted to play tennis, her father set up targets on the court and rewarded her with candy if she hit them. If she looked bored, he switched to volleyball, to keep her mind sharp. "I believe that even when your muscles are not so fast, with the brain and with concentration , you can compensate," she said.

They are known for their grueling practices, even on the day of a match. Her father, who was once a family doctor in Retournac, a village in the Haute-Loire region of France, has attached tennis balls to the arches of her feet to force her to stay on her toes.

"A lot of time, the persons are laughing at what I am doing, but now they are starting to get interested in what I'm doing," Walter Bartoli said. "They are thinking, 'Perhaps there is another way.' "

At home in Switzerland, Bartoli's mother, Sophie, complains that this other way is taking up too much of their garage. There are homemade ball machines and short children's rackets to force Bartoli to adjust her shots.

There are multicolored balls to improve hand-eye coordination: huge green ones, tiny black ones and medium-sized brown ones. "If she can play with these balls, then perhaps she will be able to take the difficult balls that come to her in a Grand Slam someday," Walter Bartoli said.

At Wimbledon, the crowd fell in love with her. She joined them in doing the wave. She made tennis look real: her chest heaved as she struggled for breath; her serves were not smooth. But she found a way to win.

Bartoli became the U.S. Open junior champion in 2001, at 17. The French tennis federation asked Bartoli to leave her father and train with a coach who had official credentials. She refused.

"They cannot accept that a doctor can be a tennis coach and put his girl to this level; it's just too hard for their mind," she said. "I always wanted to say to those persons, 'You know, I think you are bad, and I think my dad is good, and I always knew I would be a top player. You have to be a little more respectful to a girl like me.' "

I love her story. And especially what I heard during Wimbledon about her father, Walter. They said when he decided to devote himself full time to coaching Marion he knew "sweet F.A." about tennis coaching, but he read everything he could find about it and he listened to everyone experienced at it who would talk to him. And with passion, dedication and intelligence he succeeded.

Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted poliomyelitis at age 39, which crippled him, yet he won four U.S. presidential elections and led America's transformation from a depression-stricken country into a superpower.

Edith Piaf - beloved French singer. Her life from the very beginning was riddled with one tragedy after another; her biography reads like a dramatic opera, and yet she managed to transmute all of that pain and passion into her art - one of the most soulful, memorable voices ever.

Dr. Johnson was a famous British poet, essayist, and lexicographer. He wrote the Dictionary of the English Language and The Lives of the Poets. Dr. Johnson's unusual movements (most likely tics) and compulsive behaviors were observed by many of his peers at the time and described in such rich detail that there is little doubt that he had Tourette's Syndrome with obsessive-compulsive features or even full-blown OCD. Dr. Johnson was also reported to suffer from depression throughout his life.

__________________Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.
~Leo Buscaglia

Here is a story of a young man born wihout ears or the ability to hear, and how he overcame his obstacles to not only 'hear' and speak normally, but to help hundreds of others to achieve the same result.

Sometimes I think we tend to give extra value to people just because they are famous. Why do we need to have examples of famous people? There are plenty of just average people who are overcoming insane obstacles all the time. Why is it that we value fame and draw so much inspiration from stories about famous people? Does our society not tend to place more value on the lives of famous people than just a regular persons? What does this say about how we feel about ourselves? What does this say about our values? We tend to either de-humanize or super-humanize famous people...why is this? Just curious...

Sometimes I think we tend to give extra value to people just because they are famous. Why do we need to have examples of famous people? There are plenty of just average people who are overcoming insane obstacles all the time. Why is it that we value fame and draw so much inspiration from stories about famous people? Does our society not tend to place more value on the lives of famous people than just a regular persons? What does this say about how we feel about ourselves? What does this say about our values? We tend to either de-humanize or super-humanize famous people...why is this? Just curious...

I don't think that it is so natural. I think that it can be unhealthy too. You can start to place your whole self worth on achievement or fame, and thus, only value yourself and others in terms of achievement. And we can send the message to our children that "you don't have value like a famous person" and suddenly you have created a neurotic.

For purposes of this thread, I'm happy to cite the famous for their achievements as they're a handy index to refer to for folk on this forum from around the world, plus we can ascribe a quality to someone who already has made an impression and with whom we're familiar with;

Sometimes I think we tend to give extra value to people just because they are famous. Why do we need to have examples of famous people? There are plenty of just average people who are overcoming insane obstacles all the time. Why is it that we value fame and draw so much inspiration from stories about famous people? Does our society not tend to place more value on the lives of famous people than just a regular persons? What does this say about how we feel about ourselves? What does this say about our values? We tend to either de-humanize or super-humanize famous people...why is this? Just curious...

Good points, and you have made me think about this. For me, it is not so much their being famous that I personally admire, but what I do admire in people (famous or not) is the qualities of character which have led to their achievements or overcoming/managing difficulties with courage and dignity. Fame is not a measure of a person's greatness, IMHO.

Ashok is right. Some are famous because of their talents, hard work, etc. but are they not just as often destroyed by this fame? And many are not so great, though they are famous. To me the public eye is the most dual thing ever to be known. One minute you can be loved by it, but that same love can just as soon be turned into hate towards you. You can see how we continue to build up famous people and just when they almost are ready to become gods in our eyes we will tear them down and completely destroy them. And often it is the fame that destroys these individuals. Also, to say that fame is a corollary of greatness is only about half true. That shows me what is great in your eyes, what qualities you find to be great. But how many great ones have we not known because they have never been interested in public attention? How would we know? We would say that fame is great because fame is all we know. That is all we are looking for, that is what we are programmed to see as great. I don't see how it works any other way than that. Thats why famous people can give you an idol to emulate, but they can't give you yourself. They can't make you love yourself they can only make you love them. And if you love them so much, if you area building them up in your own eyes, how are you going to see yourself then?

And if you will look behind your famous saints, you will always find 2 or 3 unfamous saints that were teaching them something. And you will find them talking about even more unfamous saints too. You will validate the unfamous saints with the famous saint, if that's how your mind is functioning. If your eyes are programmed to see that way, then it takes a famous saint for you to listen to the unfamous one. You probably would not listen to the unfamous saint without the famous one to tell you that he is okay. Because your eyes are programmed to need the famous saint to make you feel okay about it. You can feel more assured when you know that someone is famous, your ego comes down a little bit. But we have still been programmed for it.

Edith Piaf - beloved French singer. Her life from the very beginning was riddled with one tragedy after another; her biography reads like a dramatic opera, and yet she managed to transmute all of that pain and passion into her art - one of the most soulful, memorable voices ever.

Tseno, didn't know JFK had those many probs. So good not to show'em at all.

One more link to Autumn lives, a breathtaking performance by the superlative jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, playing two guitars at the same time!! Rythm section is magnificent, bassist Charnet Moffet is breathtaking.